Review: 'Justified' - 'The I of the Storm': Being Raylan Givens

A review of tonight's "Justified" coming up just as soon as I buy a ski mask on eBay...

"For a guy who's supposedly changed, you sound a lot like you always did." -Dewey

One of the inherent advantages that a TV drama supposedly has over a movie is that characters can grow and change far more over many seasons than they can over the course of a two hour film. But what often fascinates me are the TV shows that choose, for one reason or another, to not let their characters change much, if at all. Sometimes it's about preserving the status quo ("Dexter" for many years), sometimes about the show espousing a belief that people - real or fictional - aren't capable of great change ("The Sopranos"), sometimes a combination of the two (the middle seasons of "House").

With "Justified," Raylan mainly is who he is. He might be capable of incremental change - being a mite slower to draw his gun just to avoid the paperwork, occasionally telling Winona how his day was - but he is who he is and his code is his code.

Boyd Crowder, on the other hand? He seems to change by the minute. But the key part of that sentence is "seems to." As Raylan told us in the series pilot, Boyd has a history of trying on new identities as part of his usual pursuit of thrills. And because of that, there's always this doubt - certainly for the other characters on the show, and to a lesser extent for those of us at home who get to see Boyd in his most private moments when he has no reason to role-play - of just how sincere his latest change is.

We know that his religious conversion turned out to be on the level, and it sure seems like he's honest about wanting to just stay down in his hole and blow things up in a law-abiding way. But nobody - not Raylan, not Dewey Crowe, and not his shady new co-workers - seems to believe him in the slightest. And by the end of "I of the Storm," that lack of faith in him - and the constant attention to a man who just wants to be left the hell alone - causes Boyd to crack up a bit. He goes all primal and caveman on Kyle(*), pulling him along as he drives very fast away from the bar. If Boyd's past won't stop chasing him, it seems, Boyd has decided to make the chase very painful for those who try.

(*) Played by Michael Mosley from the zombie final season of "Scrubs."

What a hell of an episode for Walton Goggins, who keeps making Boyd smaller and smaller - I loved the shame in his voice as he had to answer for all the Jew-hating rhetoric of his time as a fake white supremacist - until the enormous explosion of the final scene. Right now, in the context of this season's larger story about Raylan vs. the Bennetts, Boyd seems like a real wild card. You don't know what role he's going to play - whether he'll wind up siding with Raylan again or maybe letting himself be dragged into the villain part everyone expects him to adopt - and the way the writers and Goggins have shaped that character, anything is possible and nothing would ring false about it.

And I like that as Boyd is trying so damn hard to cling to his current role, dumb Dewey comes back and decides to borrow equally from Boyd and from Raylan: the slippery identity thing from his old boss, and the identity itself from the Marshal who keeps making a fool of him. Dewey-as-Raylan was a fun bit of role-playing - and also nicely called back to the episode last year where Raylan "deputized" Dewey for a bit - and also helped move the Bennett story forward by having Doyle buy into the mistaken identity too quickly and confirm Raylan's suspicions about him being dirty.

No Mags this week, but much talk of the mysterious Dixie Mafia. I suppose it wouldn't be "Justified" if Raylan didn't ultimately wind up in the crossfire between at least two different criminal organizations. Last year, it was Bo Crowder's gang and the hitters from Miami. It's still not clear exactly how and when Raylan and the Bennetts are going to come into conflict, but I imagine those Dixie boys are going to turn up to complicate whatever that conflict is.

Some other thoughts:

• In last week's review, I neglected to mention the scene where Ava tends to Boyd's wounds, in part because I had seen this episode already and didn't want to give away what I already knew: that, for now at least, they're just roommates. I don't imagine they will stay that way - the writers need to give Joelle Carter things to do, plus despite her complaints about Raylan's ego, it does seem an Ava thing to do to start a relationship with her ex's nemesis just to piss him off - but for now, that's what it apparently is.

• More Ava than usual meant less Winona than usual - given the nature of the show, it's hard to give both of Raylan's special ladies a lot of screen time in the same episode - but at least they got to go on a date way out of town to see venerable roots rocker Dave Alvin, a fan of the show who decided to send his new "Harlan County Line" song to the producers on spec, only to find that Graham Yost and some others are in turn fans of his. Isn't it nice when things turn out that way?

• One of the commenters last week wondered when the show was going to get around to discussing Tim's body count, which isn't as high as Raylan's but is still higher than your average Marshal racks up. And, indeed, Art asks Raylan if he needs to be concerned about their sniper colleague. And keeping in mind that both of the times we've seen Tim off-duty (tonight and in the episode last season where Arlo was at the VFW hall), he's been fairly drunk, maybe he's more troubled by all the killing he's seen and done than Raylan is.

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

After seeing Dewey return, it made me think how I'd love to see Tracey Walter show up as Dewey's kin.

We've had plenty of Deadwood castmembers on the show. Time to reach back a little farther and get some Brisco County alums as guest stars. John Pyper-Ferguson, Kelly Rutherford, the great R. Lee Ermey.

Goggins: fantastic. Also fantastic: the wordplay between Art and Raylan at the beginning- "Did you roofie me, Raylan?" I was absolutely cackling. And then by the end of the episode...whoa. Boyd had to crack eventually, right? Also loving the interplay between the Bennett boys. Coot looks like a fatter, bigger Patton Oswalt, yes?

I loved the next part where Art says they oughta sell tickets. The dialogue with those two is often good for a chuckle. Wanted to also say that Dewey's line about the gators and Boyd's about not actually knowing any Jews both call back to the pilot. Kinda cool.

Man, is this show good! I think Boyd Crowder is one of the most fascinating characters I've ever seen on television. You want to root for him and fear him at the same time. I live next door to Kentucky and these characters really ring true. The writing's great, the acting's great... it's about all I ask of fictional entertainment.

Dixie Mafia's not that mysterious - I'd like if the show brought back the guy from last season, the one who was trying to go legit and got the land from Gary's projected development (and survived the shootout when Wynn Duffie lost it). I presume it's all more or less the same crew.

I know some very smart folks who watch and enjoy a lot of the same shows I do, but I don't recommend The Wire to them. It just isn't for everybody. That being said, it's my favorite show of all time - by far - and the only show I watch entire seasons of over and over again.

Loved Raylan's smile at Dewey's defense, that he'd done it because Raylan deputized him. That kind of nonsense would probably be as much of a paperwork/legal headache as most of his shootings. Tough to explain why he "deputized" a criminal.

This is definitely the best show on tv right now, Chicago Code and Lights Out are great as well but this is definitely the leader....it seems like theyre on their way to having one of the all time great seasons of TV, if the early episodes are this good , i can only imagine what they have in store for us. By the time its all said and done we may be able to rank this with season 2 of breaking bad, season 4 of the wire, and seasons 5 and 7 of the shield.

I love Oliphant but I can't stop watching the Boyd character. What a bad mofo. An episode if infinitely better when he is in it and when he is as menacing as he was in this episode, then it gets even better.

does anybody know the song that was played at the end of the episode, when Boyd finally cracks &throws his annoying coworker out of his speeding truck/headlock? Can't seem to find it anywhere, I believe the lyrics went something like 'there's nothing left to feel, the devil's behind the wheel...' Thanks! love the show and glad that others are as fond of it as I am, can't wait for next week

I can't believe the writers were able to take some so completely disgusting (as Boyd Crowder was in the pilot) and make him not only likable and interesting, but relatable. It's beyond impressive. And, if the Emmys were fair, Goggins would walk away with the best supporting actor category.

Because Breaking Bad will not have aired in the eligibility period. He already won the Emmy for season 3.

As for Goggins, I would say it's probably unlikely he wins, but at the same time, 4 people from last year's pool, Paul, Emerson, O'Quinn, and Short will not be eligible this year, so there's a chance he at least gets nominated, but it seems as though Braugher, or maybe Michael Pitt, will actually win the award.

I didn't pick up that Tim was drunk, but I did suspect he was either with the guy next to him or in a gay area of that bar. Tim wouldn't have to drive 50 miles away just to get drunk: he would to keep his orientation secret. I thought it was a very Lt. Rawls moment.

Maybe he didn't need to drive 50 miles to get drunk but to see Dave Alvin he would- I live in Ky, 50 miles is not that far to drive to see somebody of his caliber at a honky tonk, I've drove farther for lesser musicians.

I thought it was a great showcase for Goggins. The show keeps improving it's quality through dialogue and acting. I loved the exchange between Searcy and Olyphant.I wished Winona and Raylan had stayed longer so I could listen to the music.

I love this show and I am still blue about the cancellation of Terriers. I keep thinking if more thought had been put into naming Terriers (as was obviously done with naming Justified), we would have two stellar shows to enjoy. Every time I watch Justified, for some reason, I think of those incredible characters from Terriers and feel like some sad twist of fate got in the way of keeping Terriers alive....

Well - at least we do have this one - but, man, two would have been sweeter.

Just curious. After the finale aired last season the powers that be made a point of letting us know we saw Johnny go down but don't know for sure that he's dead. I haven't watched last nights episode but there's been no mention of him yet this season. Does anyone else think it's intentional to make for a nice big impact when/if he rears his head again?

I know we like to engage in the willing suspension of disbelief when watching tv but a shotgun blast to a man's chest at such a point blank range really shouldn't leave that much doubt to the man's fate

I agree Patrick, but it being television and everything on a serialized show being very deliberate I have my suspicions. The show runners made a very specific point of saying that at the end of the season 1 finale we hadn't seen Beau or Johnny's fate specifically referenced. Beau has since been shown and proclaimed dead but still no mention of Johnny. In real life he'd be a shred job but on television I don[t buy it unless its mentioned or I see that blank stare. All we really saw was a gut blast and a stay in the bushes.

I miss Terriers too, but this show works good as a rebound. I'm really rooting for Boyd here, such a sympathetic character. Goggins constantly impresses me. Any fan of his should give The Accountant a look. Great short by Deadwood alum Ray McKinnon.

Terriers does not need to be mentioned in every single post about a FX show. Yes it sucks it's cancelled, but there are a lot of amazing shows out there. Several of which are a lot better than terriers was. Including Justified. It's been like 6 months. Calm down about the cancellation guys.

1) Did they say how he got his injuries last episode? He seems to have recovered quickly though.

2) He appeared to be a good guy by calling Raylan to give him the tip about Dewey, although he may have been doing it more to protect Dewey than to help Raylan. But then the guys Dewey robbed showed up looking for 'Raylan Givens' (because of Dewey's impersonation). How did they know where to look? Did they get tipped off? Was Raylan being set up?

They sure haven't wasted any time turning Tim into a real character, and an interesting one at that. Maybe his drinking has more to do with his war than his US Marshal-ing.

I'd like Raylan & Winona to be the one thing Raylan doesn't screw up in his life. He's drawn to trouble, so why not give him one good thing he doesn't mess up? I guess I just want NZ to be happy. Shame on me.